Glider crash kills local pilot, teen

By SHANNA SISSOM | Managing Editor

Published 3:31 pm, Monday, April 1, 2013

Photo: Courtesy Photo

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Plainview resident Eddie Hoglan, 79, stands in front of the training glider Emily in this photo. He and student pilot Taylor Brown of Littlefield were killed in a glider crash Saturday when a wing inexplicably separated from another glider during flight. less

Plainview resident Eddie Hoglan, 79, stands in front of the training glider Emily in this photo. He and student pilot Taylor Brown of Littlefield were killed in a glider crash Saturday when a wing inexplicably ... more

Photo: Courtesy Photo

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Student pilot Taylor Brown, 13, is seen inside an airplane. The Littlefield Junior High student was a passenger in a glider that crashed Saturday, killing him and the pilot.

Student pilot Taylor Brown, 13, is seen inside an airplane. The Littlefield Junior High student was a passenger in a glider that crashed Saturday, killing him and the pilot.

Photo: Photo Courtesy Brown Family.

Glider crash kills local pilot, teen

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An investigation continues after a Plainview pilot and Littlefield teen died in a glider crash Saturday.

The deceased, Plainview resident Eddie Hoglan, 79, and 13-year-old student pilot Taylor Brown, had flown together many times, according to Dr. Michael Graves, a close friend of Hoglan’s who was also Taylor’s flight instructor.

The outer panel of the right wing on the K7 glider separated in flight at an altitude of approximately of 1,000 feet, Graves said.

“Witnesses described a loud, thunder-like crack in the sky, and that’s when they looked up and saw the outside panel of one wing fold upward and then separate from the aircraft.” Graves said. “That’s pretty much unheard of ...very rare,” Graves said, given it occurred during a straight and level flight. A Plainview urologist, Graves is an aviation enthusiast and world president of the International Fellowship of Flying Rotarians.

A Littlefield Junior High student, Taylor, the son and grandson of commercial pilots, was considered a child prodigy in piloting.

“His dad’s been a pilot, Taylor was born into it,” his mother Shonda Brown told the Herald. “He loved flying. One of friends posted on Facebook, Taylor described flying by saying it was like a dream.”

The boy flew almost every weekend, his mother said. The family owns Brown Flying Service in Littlefield, where Taylor was a member of a dirt bike club, played football and ran track.

“He was a good, all-around, great kid and older than his years by far,” Shonda Brown said.

On Saturday, Hoglan and Taylor, both members of the Caprock Soaring Club, were enjoying their passion of gliding together when tragedy struck.

“One of my early flights with this young man was when he was 11 years old in October or November of 2011. I buckled into the back seat and he buckled into the front seat,” Graves recalled. “I told Taylor, ‘I will help you any way you need with this flight, but unless you need help, the flight controls are yours.’” Graves said the boy managed the entire flight exhibiting the skill level of an experienced pilot. “To make sure that was not simply a fluke, we repeated the episode one more time and once again . . . Remarkable precision for a student pilot.”

Veteran pilot Hoglan was considered an expert aviator and mentor among his peers.

“The only way this man could have died in an aircraft is with a structural failure of the airplane,” Graves said. “He had survived engine problems many, many times before. This was beyond any pilot’s ability.”

Graves said the aircraft had been properly maintained and inspected, but pointed out it’s the job of the National Transportation Safety Board to figure out what happened.

The deaths of two beloved members of the area aviation community hit hard close to home.

“I think everybody in the aviation community — especially when somebody is legendary for skill, safety and judgment as Eddie Hoglan — is a victim, too.” Graves said. “It makes everybody a little more humble and makes everybody in the aviation safety and instructor community want to be even more diligent in teaching safe pre-flight and safe practices to minimize risk.

“There’s never no risk at all, but the risk can be made very, very small as evidenced by the airline transport industry in the U.S.”

A service will be held at 2 p.m. Wednesday at First Baptist Church in Littlefield for Taylor. Services are pending for Hoglan.